Apparatus for feeding sheets, such as labels, from a pack to positions at which they are required



Oct. 8, 1957 J. E. SHE RRINGTON 2,808,955

APPARATUS FOR FEEDING SHEETS, SUCH AS LABELS. FRQM A PACK T0 POSITIONS AT WHICH THEY ARE REQUIRED Filed March 10, 1955 17 Sheets-Sheet 1 06L 1957 J E. SHERRINGTON 8,955

APPARATUS FOR FE EDING SHEETS, SUCH AS LABELS, FROM A PACK TO POSITIONS AT WHICH THEY ARE REQUIRED Filed March 10, 1955 l7 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR aw 5057:: 57/: yum-7a ATTORNEY Och 1957 J. E. SHERRINGTON 2,808,955

APPARATUS FOR FEEDING SHEETS, SUCH AS LABELS. FROM A PACK TO POSITIONS AT WHICH THEY ARE REQUIRED Filed March 10, 1955 17 Sheets-Sheet 3 FIG. 10

BY 65,; ATTORN Oct. 1957 J E. SHERRINGTON 2,808,955

APPARATUS FOR FE EDING SHEETS, SUCH AS LABELS. FROM A PACK TO POSITIONS AT WHICH THEY ARE REQUIRED Filed March 10, 1955 w 17 Sheets-Sheet 4 no 1210 v v 109 105 142 ATT NEY 1957 .1. E; SHERRINGTON 2,808,955

APPARATUS FOR FEEDING SHEETS, SUCH AS LABELS, FROM A PACK TO POSITIONS AT WHICH THEY ARE REQUIRED Filed March 10, 1955 1'7 Sheets-Sheet 5 FIG. 2b.

INVENTOR Jew E057 6745f mi TORNEY 7 8, 1957 J. E. SHERRINGTON 2,808,955

APPARATUS FOR FEEDING SHEETS, SUCH AS LABELS. FROM A PACK TO POSITIONS AT WHICH THEY ARE REQUIRED Filed March 10, 1955 178beets-Sheet 6 INVENTOR Oct 7 J. E. SHERRINGTON ,808,

APPARATUS FOR FEEDING SHEETS, SUCH AS LABELS. FROM A PACK TO POSITIONS AT WHICH THEY ARE REQUIRED Filed March 10, 1955 17 Sheets-Sheet 7 FIG.3-

A'A'TORNEY 06L 1957 J. E. SHERRINGTON 2,808,955

APPARATUS FOR FEEDING SHEETS, SUCH AS LABELS, FROM A PACK TO POSITIONS AT WHICH THEY ARE REQUIRED Filed March 10, 1955 17 Sheets-Sheet 9 Oct. 8, 1957 .1 E. SHERRINGTON 2 808,955

APPARATUS FOR FE EDING SHEETS, SUCH AS LABELS. FROM A PACK TO POSITIONS AT WHICH THEY ARE REQUIRED Filed March 10, 1955 17 Sheets-Sheet 1O INVENTOR J0 N 50574556 fir/0573' BY V I ATTORNEY Oct 1957 J. E. SHERRINGTON 2,808,955

APPARATUS FOR FEEDING SHEETS, SUCH AS LABELS,. FROM A PACK TO POSITIONS AT WHICH THEY ARE REQUIRED Filed March 10, 1955 17 She'etS-Sheat 11 45 PI PI 24 27 26 24 I 1,. I Ill o 25 WWW 3 27a :2; f E E I 13 29 I E i T1 fl 27b I A D o *l F FIG. 7.

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l VENTOR ATT NEY 1957 J. E. SHERRINGTON 2,8

APPARATUS FOR FEEDING SHEETS, SUCH AS LABELS, FROM A PACK TO POSITIONS AT WHICH THEY ARE REQUIRED Filed March 10, 1 55 17 Sheets-Sheet 12 INVENTOR J04 ,Eus'iic: E ik/0'6 70M BY i AT NEY 1957 J E. SHERRINGTON 2,808,955

APPARATUS FOR FEEDING SHEETS, SUCH AS LABELS. FROM A PACK TO POSITIONS AT WHICH THEY'ARE REQUIRED Filed March 10, 1955 17 Sheets-Sheet 13 INYENTOR I fol/H fa /ms BY 3, 1957 J. E. SHERRINGTON 3 9 APPARATUS FOR FEEDING SHEETS, SUCH AS LABELS. FROM A PACK TO POSITIONS AT WHICH THEY ARE REQUIRED Filed March 10, 1955 17 Sheets-Sheet 14 R INVENTO 67 J. E. SHERRINGTON Oct A I PARATUS FOR FEEDING SHEETS, SUCH AS L A PACK TO POSITIONS AT WHICH THEY ARE REQUIRED Filed March 10 1955 ATT NEY 1957 J. E. SHERRINGTON 2,808,955

APPARATUS FOR FEEDING SHEETS, SUCH AS LABELS, FROM A PACK TO'POSITIONS AT WHICH THEY ARE REQUIRED Filed March 10, 1955 17 Sheets-Sheet 16 FIG. 13.

BY g

ATTOEY 1957 J. E. SHERRINGTON 2,808,955

APPARATUS FOR FEEDING SHEETS, SUCH As LABELS. FROM A PACK T0 POSITIONS AT WHICH THEY ARE REQUIRED Filed March 10, 1955 17 Sheets-Sheet 1'7 -INVENTOR JO f/V BUS 44:2 g a United States Patent Ofiice 2,808,955 Patented Oct. 8, 1957 APPARATUS FOR FEEDING SHEETS, SUCH AS LABELS, FROM A PACK T POSITION AT WHICH THEY ARE REQUIRED John Eustace Sherrington, Muswell Hill, London England, assignor to Pnrdy Machinery Company Limited, London, England Application March 10, 1955, Serial No. 4%,516

Claims priority, application Great Britain March 11, 1954 Claims. (Cl. 216-55) This invention relates to mechanism for feeding a series of labels respectively to a series of objects located at predetermined locations on a travelling conveyor. The invention is primarily concerned with mechanisms for applying strap labels, or strip stamp labels over the closures of containers, particularly over bottle corks, caps or stoppers.

As is well known such labels have to be securely applied so that the cork or the like cannot be removed without breaking the label and it is one object of the present invention to provide means whereby the labels are not only securely applied but also very neatly applied, that is to say straight and square while conforming to any ridges or grooves that may be present on the part of the bottle neck down which the ends of the label extend.

According to the invention, mechanism for feeding a series of labels respectively to a series of objects located at predetermined locations on a travelling conveyor includes a series of grippers mounted respectively at the said locations and each arranged to receive a label at a predetermined point in the path of the conveyor, a label carrier mounted to rotate about a fixed axis so as to carry labels in succession to the said point, and to deliver them directly to the grippers, and means on the conveyor for transferring the labels from the grippers to the associated objects, the labels being furnished with a tacky surface. Advantageously the labels or other sheets may be secured to the label carrier by suction and each gripper may be provided with clamping elements or grips for securing a label. Adhesive may be applied to each label at an intermediate position on its way from the pack to the said point at which it is received by one of the grippers. Thus, the label carrier may be arranged to hold three labels in separate positions, the labels being received in succession and discharged in succession at the said location, and the arrangement being such that while one label is being received, another is having adhesive applied thereto and the third is being discharged to a gripper. 1

The label carrier may, therefore, be provided with four suction members or heads and arranged to undergo unidirectional rotation under the driving action of a Geneva stop mechanism, the fourth suction member being in an idle position while three of the others are in the operative positions indicated above. Each such member or head on arriving at the said location, at which a label is discharged to a gripper presents portions of a label between the grips in a gripper, the label being thereupon secured to the gripper by means for closing the grips while the suction through the head is reduced or stopped. To enable the label carrier to cooperate most effectively with the associated parts in performing its various functions, it may be caused to reciprocate in the direction of its axis of rotation, each time its rotary motion is arrested.

An important feature of the invention consists in mounting the grippers yieldingly in the travelling assembly and providing means for temporarily arresting each gripper, relatively to the other portions of the travelling assembly, at the aforesaid location while the label is being transferred from the label carrierto the gripper. This does away with the necessity for stopping the entire assembly each time it is desired to bring one of the grippers to rest. However, the operation may be assisted if the assembly is not driven at constant speed but is arranged for the speed to increase and decrease alternately in a smooth fashion, so that each gripper is travelling comparatively slowly as ,it approaches the location at which it receives a label. Advantageously, the clamping elements or grips in each gripper are latched in their separated condition, to be released so as to close under spring action on registering with a label. Then each gripper may be furnished with a projection which engages a trip on the label carrier to perform the two-fold function of unlatching the grips and .causing the gripper to yield as described above relatively to the travelling assembly. Conveniently the subsequent release of the trip from one gripper may take place simply as a result of the aforesaid axial reciprocation of the label carrier.

After a label has been accurately and securely located in a gripper as described above, it may be clamped on the top, for example, of a corked bottle by a plunger, the latter being associated with means for opening the grips after the label has been so clamped. This enables the gripper to be withdrawn from the ambit of the label to leave the way clear for presser pads to swing down and press the ends of the label on the sides of the bottle neck and, if the label is sufiicientlylong, along the shoulders of the bottle as well. Each pad may be covered with a layer of adhesive repellant material to ensure that any adhesive that finds its way onto the pad does not tend to pull the label back from the bottle. The repellant material may be the sheet material known as P. T. F. E.

The withdrawal of a gripper from a label may be used to effect the automatic relatching of the grips which have already been opened sufiiciently to enable them to part from the label. I

A particular feature of the invention consists in the aforesaid system of withdrawing each label in a dry condition and bringing it to an adhesive state in an intermediate position prior to carrying it to the location at which it is transferred to a gripper. At this intermediate position aroller on an oscillating arm may be arranged to apply the adhesive to each label. The arm may be mounted so as to oscillate about an axis parallel to a flat surface on the label carrier against which the label bears, the arm being arranged to yield and extend radially to enable the path of the roller to conform to the fiat surface. The return stroke of the roller may, with advantage, take place out of contact with the label, the aforesaid axial motion of the label carrier effecting the necessary separation. In order to keep the roller moist, means may be provided for causing the roller to oscillate radially with respect to the axis of the arm, at one point in the stroke of the latter, to bring the roller into contact with adhesive applying means.

The pack of labels may be mounted in a magazine arranged to undergo reciprocating motion with respect to a rotary label selector which, at each reciprocation, takes a label from the pack and carries it to a position in which it is transferred to the label carrier. The selector may be formed with a series of faces to each of which suction is applied, a valve being associated with each face for opening the connection to a suction source when the face is presented to the pack and for cutting off the connection when the face is presented to the label carrier.

In order that the invention may be clearly understood,

2,sos,955

3 one construction in accordance therewith will now be described in some detail, purely by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figures 1a, 1b and 10 together constitute a side elevation of a portion of a strap labelling machine for bottles,

Figures 2a, 2b and 2c together constitute a side elevation of the machine as viewed from the side opposite from that appearing in Figure 1,

Figure 3 is a plan of a portion of the machine appearing in Figures 1 and 2,

Figure 4 is a sectional side elevation showing certain details that are additional to those appearing in Figures 1 to 3,

Figure 5 is a side elevation showing part of the machine appearing in Figure 2 but with additional details,

Figure 6 is a plan of the part of the machine appearing in Figure 5,

Figure 7 is a plan of a portion of the part of the machine appearing in Figures 5 and 6, but as viewed from beneath,

Figure 8 is a sectional plan of a detail,

Figures 9 and 10 are similar front elevations showing certain details not appearing in the preceding figures, Figure 9 showing a different phase in the operation of the machine from that appearing in Figure 10,

Figure 11 is a side elevation of the assembly appearing in Figure 10,

Figures 12 and 13 are diagrammatic representations (in two different phases in the operation thereof) of driving mechanism, and

Figure 14 is a diagrammatic view showing the entire apparatus.

The machine comprises a turntable 1, which is caused to rotate about a vertical axis in the direction of arrows A (Figure 3) at an angular velocity that is caused to fluctuate, in such a way as to be represented substantially by a sine curve in a velocity-time graph, by mechanism constructed in accordance with the invention by mechanism described below. The turntable accommodates a series of eight equidistantly spaced bottles B, each bottle being delivered to the turntable 1, at a fixed location at its periphery, to be secured to the turntable by one of eight automatically actuated clamping devices. After being carried round by the turntable, each bottle is discharged therefrom at a fixed location close to the location at which it was delivered to the turntable. In fact, the labelled bottles are carried away from the turntable by the same endless band that carries the unlabelled bottles to the turntable. cerned the endless conveyor feeds each bottle to a pair of superimposed star wheels, constituting a turnstile gate fixed to a coaxial ratchet wheel. After the bottle has engaged this gate, the ratchet is released by the withdrawal of a pawl lever in timed relationship with the thrusting of the bottle ahead from the conveyor radially onto the turntable by a reciprocating member. Thus, the bottle released by the gate is now brought into contact with a padded stop on the reciprocating member at the correct time after the discharge of the previous bottle. The stop positions the bottle in the path of another padded surface which thrusts the bottle into the appropriate position on the turntable. This mechanism for mounting the bottles on the turntable forms no part of the present invention, but is mentioned because it plays a part in an automatic stop mechanism described below. Each labelled bottle, after its associated clamping evice has been released, is swept off the turntable onto the endless conveyor by one of three radial bars on a member that is positively driven about a fixed vertical axis.

A strap label L is located above each bottle B when it reaches a fixed location C (Figure 3) during its travel on the turntable 1, and the means for delivering the labels in series to this location will not be described.

So far as the latter are con- The labels L are packed vertically with their longer edges horizontal in a magazine M having a platform 2 on which the label pack rests and sides 3 carrying side adjusters 4 adjustable towards and away from one another to accommodate packs differing in the lengths of the labels they contain. Each side adjuster is carried by two studs 5 that project through holes in the adjacent side 3, compression springs 6 surrounding the studs 5 being interposed between the side adjuster 4 and side 3. Each side adjuster 4 is furnished also with a threaded projection 7 which extends through the adjacent side 3 and carries a knurled headed nut 8 that bears against the side 3 and is turned to adjust the position of the side adjuster 4.

The magazine M is open at the front and back and the pack is thrust towards the front by a label follower plate 9 (Figs. 5 and 6), the pack being prevented from being thrust beyond the front by retainers 10 which project just beyond the bottom and side edges of the magazine. Pressure on the pack is maintained by a weight of a mass 11 on an arm 12 fixed to a toothed-sector 13 pivoted about a fixed axis 14 and meshing with an intermediate gear 15 which, in turn, meshes with a rack 16 fixed to the follower plate 9. The rack is guided by a housing 17 in which the gear 15 is mounted. The magazine is open at the top but the pack of labels L is guided on top by a T-shaped height guide 18 fixed to an arm 19 clamped to a support 21 on one of the sides 3 by clamping screw 22. The stem of the guide 18 is upwardly turned at 18a so as to enable the magazine M easily to be charged with a pack of labels.

The entire magazine assembly is reciprocated in a horizontal plane to deliver the labels in succession to a label selector 33 by which they are delivered to a label carrier or picker P which, in turn, carries them to the turntable assembly. Thus, the magazine M has fixed beneath it a pair of slide rods 23 mounted to reciprocate in four bearings 24 on frame members 25. Compression springs 26 are interposed between the two rearmost bearings 24 and collars 27c fixed to the slide rods 23. In the reciprocating movement, the magazine M is moved forward against the action of the springs 26 by a cam (Fig. 5) acting on a bell-crank lever 27 pivoted about a fixed axis 28 and having one arm 27a connected by a link 29 to the magazine M and a cam follower roller 32 on the other arm 27b. The cam 30 rotates about the fixed axis of a shaft 31. Rearward movement of the magazine M is, of course, effected by the springs 26 as the cam 30 allows the bell-crank lever 27 to swing counter-clockwise (Figure 5).

The forward movement of the magazine brings the front one of the labels L into contact with one of four faces 33a, 33b, 33c, 33d on a label selector 33. These four faces lie respectively on the sides of a square and are brought in succession into register with the magazine, the face 33a being shown in register with the magazine in the figures. Each face is formed with grooves 34 and is cut short at each end 35 so as to clear the magazine label retainers 16 when the selector 33 begins to rotate. Moreover, ten orifices 36 are distributed along each face so as to apply suction to a label applied to the face. The orifices 36 from each face lead to a transverse bearing for a slide valve 37 and are in register respectively with passages 38 (Fig. 8) leading from the bearing to a passage 39 formed axially in the label selector 33. There are, therefore, four reciprocable slide valves 37 associated respectively with the four faces 33a, 33b, 33c, 33d and each valve can either take up an open position, as shown at the top of Figure 8 in which ports 40 in the valve are in register with the orifices 36 and passages 38, or a closed position, as shown at the bottom of Figure 8, in which the ports 40 are displaced from the associated orifices 36 and passages 38.

The selector 33 has coaxial end shafts 41, 42, a passage 43 through the shaft 41 providing the necessary connection between a source of suction and the passage 39. The shafts 41, 42 are mounted in stationary bearings 44 (Fig. 2c).

As the magazine M approaches the face 33a, when in the position shown, of the selector 33, a cam 45 (Fig. 6) on the magazine engages a roller 46 at one end of the associated slide valve 37 so as to open the valve. Simultaneously, a second cam 47 also on the magazine engages a roller 48 on a two-armed lever 49, pivoted about a fixed axis 50, and causes a roller 51 at the opposite end of the lever to engage the adjacent end of the slide valve 37 associated with the selector face 33b, in the top position, and to close this valve. The first result of these actions is that, when the front label L in the pack engages the face 33a, it is held thereagainst by suction and retained While the magazine recedes, the label snapping past the retainers 10. The second result is that a label previously retained on the face 33b is now free to be lifted therefrom by a picker as described below.

The label selector is now rotated about its axis through 90 of are so that the label now held against the face 33a is brought to the uppermost position ready to be received by the picker, while the face 3301 is brought into register with the magazine so as to receive a label.

The mechanism by which the step-by-step movement is imparted to the selector 33 appears in Figure 2 and comprises a Geneva cross movement 52 by which the motion of a continuously rotating shaft 53a is converted to the step-by-step movement of a turret shaft 53, the motion of the shaft 53 being interrupted four times in each revolution. The shaft 53 is connected by sprockets and a chain 54- to a shaft 55 connected by bevel gears 56 to a shaft 57 carrying a sprocket 58 connected by a chain 59 to a sprocket 60 on the shaft 41.

The picker P is also arranged to undergo unidirectional rotation in four steps, but about a vertical axis. The picker P is, therefore, mounted on a square turret 61 at the top of the shaft 53, but it is also arranged to reciprocate axially with respect to the shaft 53 each time the rotation is interrupted. The picker P, therefore, includes four T-shaped suction members 73a, 73b, 73c and 73d, carried respectively by four slides 62a which slide between guides 6215 on the turret 61 and which, in turn, are carried by four rods 62 fixed to a collar 63 provided with flanges 6% between which shoes 65 are mounted, these shoes being pivoted at 66 respectively to the arms of a fork 67 on a vertically reciprocable depresser slide 68 bearing a follower roller 69 for a cam 70 on the shaft 3i. The picker P is therefore, lowered by the cam 70 acting on the slide 63 and raised by a helical compression spring 71 interposed between the collar 63 and a flange 72 integral with the shaft 53. p p

The effective portion of the picker consists of the four T-shaped suction members 73a, 73b, 73c, 73d which project horizontally respectively from the four faces of the turret block 61. The tranverse limb of each suction member is formed on its lower surface with six suction orifices 74 distributed along the surface. These are connected in groups of three by manifold passages 75 connected by flexible pipes 76 to a junction block 77. The four junction blocks 77 associated respectively with the four suction members 73a, 73b, 73c, 73d are connected by four flexible pipes '78 to a bored shaft 79 coaxial with the shaft 53 and connected through a gland with a pipe leading to the vacuum pump.

When the slide valve 37 associated with the selector face, such as 33b, located in the uppermost position has been closed as aforesaid to leave the label free to be picked up by the picker P, the picker suction member 73a that happens to be above the label selector 33 picks up the label when the picker is lowered by the cam 7 t). Then when the picker P is raised the label is lifted by the suction member 730, Figure 2. The picker assembly is then turned counter-clockwise (Figure 3), through the medium of the Geneva cross movement 52, through 90 of arc to bring the label to a position in which adhesive is applied to its lower surface. Simultaneously of course, the suction member 73b, which was in this position, is swung round to the position in which the suction member 730 is shown in Figure 2, in which the label carried thereby, with adhesive applied thereto, is located over a bottle.

The mechanism for applying adhesive is shown in Figure land comprises a telescopic arm 80 which is caused to rock about a fixed axis 81 by a cam 82 on the shaft 31 acting on a roller 800 on the lower part 80a of the arm 89. A helical compression spring 82a is interposed between the end of the part 80a and a shoulder 83 on the outer part 80b of the arm 528. The extent to which the telescopic arm can extend under the action of the spring 82 is, however, limited by a collar 84 on the part 8% engaging a shoulder 85 on the part 80a of the arm.

When the suction member carrying the label to be gummed is swung into position over the arm 80 and is then lowered to occupy the position occupied by the suc tion member 73b in Figure 1, an adhesive transfer roller 86 at the outer end of the arm 80 is engaged by one end of the label backed by the suction member. The arm 8G is then swung clockwise as viewed in Fig. 16 by the cam 82 so that the transfer roller 86 rolls from end to end of the label L. The axial width of the roller 86 is slightly less than the width of the label so as to leave margins along each edge of the label onto which any excess adhesive can be squeezed without flowing beyond the label when the latter is pressed on the bottle. The telescopic construction of the arm 89 enables it to contract against the action of the spring 82a as the roller approaches the centre of the label which is closer to the axis 81 than the ends of the label.

After the adheseive has been applied, the picker P rises and lifts the label L away from the roller 86, which does not follow the label owing to the engagement of the collar 84 with the shoulder 85. The return movement of the roller 86 is, therefore, effected out of contact with the label.

When the roller 86 has returned to the left-hand end of its stroke, as viewed in Figure 1, the arm 80 is caused to contract against the action of the spring 82a by a force applied to the outer part 89b of the arm through a tension rod or cable 87 by a solenoid (not shown), the solenoid being energised by means of a switch operated in timed relationship with the action of the other parts of the machine. This contraction of the arm 80 brings the transfer roller 86 into contact with an idle roller 88, to the surface of which adhesive is applied by a roller 89 rotated, in an adhesive box 90 and in continuous contact with the roller 88, by a belt 91 embracing a pulley 92 on the roller 89 and a pulley 93 on the shaft 31.

In order to prevent the labels from rolling up on the transfer roller 86 while the adhesive is being applied, a small automatically operated clip may be mounted at the left-hand end (as viewed in Figure 1) of the head of each suction member. This clip clamps the edges of the label, at its left-hand end, against the suction member.

After the adhesive has been applied to a label, the associated suction member is rotated through 90 of arc to the position in which the suction member 730 appears in Figure 2. Simultaneously the turntable l is carrying the bottle that is to receive the label to the location C at which the label is to be transferred from the picker P to a position over the top of the bottle. For this purpose a gripper assembly, having a gripper including two pairs of cooperating grips 94a, 94b and 95a, 95b, is mounted above each bottle position to receive a label from the picker P and hold it over the associated bottle B.

Each gripper assembly is mounted on a plate 96 mounted to swing about a vertical axis 97 on a turntable 98 fixed to a shaft 99 that rotates with the lower or bottle turntable 1. At each bottle position a bottle guide plate 100 is fixed beneath the upper turntable 98, this guide 

